Misunderstandings
by ToastOnTheSidePlease
Summary: Things quickly get both confusing and highly emotional down at the Plantar farm.


Just another random story idea I decided to write up and share. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"...Aaaaand here comes the pitch!" Anne wound up and rolled the ball across the yard. Polly met it with a powerful headbutt that sent it arching high into the air and over into the nearby water with a distant splash.

"Whooo! Home run!" Sprig scooped up his little sister and gave her a celebratory toss in the air. Anne caught her on the way down then tossed her up even higher, and all the while the little tadpole basked in her athletic achievement.

"I AM THE KICKBALL QUEEN!" Polly boasted to the world before being safely caught a second time.

"Kids? Kiiiiids!" Hop-Pop called from the front door, interrupting their playful celebration. "What do you think you're doin'?"

"Just playing a couple of innings of kick-optional kickball!" Sprig replied cheerily.

"Everything okay, HP?" Anne asked the old frog as he waddled over.

"Hardly! Here you are just messin' around when you all should be gettin' ready right now. C'mon, let's go! I need everyone cleaned up and dressed in your best, on the double."

"For what?" The teen had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

Hop-Pop rolled his eyes and sighed. "Really, Anne. I've been tellin' you for the past several days now that today is-"

"Hold up." Anne interrupted, and she then proceeded to state with full confidence, "Before you go any further, I'm gonna guess that no, actually you've probably forgotten to tell me anything about whatever this thing is until right until this very moment."

"Hmmm….that definitely would fit the pattern." He conceded. "Okay, I'm gonna give this one to you."

"Yesss." She did a quick victorious fist pump. "Anyways, what's going on?"

"Today is the day for the annual Plantar family photo." He explained. "Sprig, Polly and I are going to head into town and get our picture taken like we do every year. Y'see, we don't have special little memory boxes like yours, so pictures aren't nearly as easy to take here in our world. We have to visit and pay a photographer, so it's a much more special affair to get everyone together for a….uh….."

Hop-Pop trailed off as he watched Anne's mood rapidly change. Her face scrunched up, her lower lip started quivering, and most worrisome of all was that her eyes had begun to glisten wetly.

"Uh...Anne? You okay?"

"Yeah….yeah, I-I'm okay, I just….I-I'm gonna g-go and get…." She mumbled before dashing off into the house. Hop-Pop was left reeling in confusion while the kids bore into him with wide-eyed stares of shock.

"What….did….you….DO?" Spring pointed a finger and demanded.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything!"

"Yes you did!" The young frog's voice quavered. "Hop-Pop, how could you?"

"Yeah, what's with trying to pull a fast one on us?" Polly growled.

"Pull what on you? Kids, what in tarnation is goin' on here?"

"We thought that Anne was going to be in this year's photo!" Sprig said with a look of betrayal stamped all over his face. "We all talked about this! And then you go and decide to leave her out at the very last minute?"

"What?" Hop-Pop was horrified by the accusation. "Boy, what are you talkin' about? Nothin's changed at all! Of course Anne's still gonna be in this year's picture! Why wouldn't she?"

"Well it sure didn't sound like it!" Polly shot him a suspicious glare. "You just told her that you, me and Sprig were gonna go get our picture taken. Do the math, Hop-Pop! Someone's missing there!"

"She ain't gettin' left out, I was just about to that part before she ran off!" He clarified. "See, what I was tryin' to say to her was 'It's a much more special affair to get everyone together for a photo, and this year it's gonna be even _more_ special because we get to include you in our-'"

Hop-Pop stopped, thought it all over, and face-palmed. "...Oh dear Frog Almighty, I could have phrased that a lot better, couldn't I?"

"You think?!" snapped Polly.

"And now Anne thinks we're leaving her out!" Sprig lamented. "Do you have any idea how she probably feels right now?"

Right on cue they heard what sounded like crying coming from the house. Instinctively all three amphibians rushed in, but to their dismay, they found that their adopted family member had locked the cellar door from the inside.

"Anne? Anne!" Hop-Pop knocked and called out. "I'm sorry, what I said back there came out all wrong!"

"Anne, it's okay!" Sprig yelled. "You're in the family photo too!"

"Yeah, and it's not because someone changed their mind!" Polly made sure to look right into Hop-Pop's eyes as she said this. "You were always gonna be in it!"

"We weren't going to have it any other way! Ever! And I mean it!" Sprig declared.

"Anne, y'hear me? I said I'm sorry!" Hop-Pop apologized again.

"Anne, we totally want you in the picture!" squeaked Polly. "Cross our tongues and hope our legs don't fry!"

"We really do! You know how badly I wanted you to be there with us?" Sprig asked. "Last week I even came up with a list of all the reasons why you should be included just in case Hop-Pop thought that you shouldn't!"

"Which by the way, I _never_ thought that!" Hop-Pop was quick to emphasize.

"And then I actually cornered him and told him all my reasons for almost twenty minutes straight before he could get a chance to tell me that he had already been planning the same thing!"

"I saw the whole thing, and it was hilarious!" His sister couldn't help but add. "Anyways, yeah! You being with us was a total no-brainer for everyone!"

Unfortunately, their hail of reassurances had no effect. It seemed like she couldn't hear anything over the sounds of her own crying. And the cellar still remained locked shut.

"Anne!" Sprig desperately called. "Anne, it's okay! Anne?"

"Anne? ANNE!" Hop-Pop cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered for her attention. "I'm sorry! This is all my fault!

"Huh?" It sounded like she finally realized someone was there. "Hop-Pop?

"Yes, it's me! Listen, I know what it sounded like back outside, but that was just me jumblin' my words up somethin' fierce! Anne, you gotta believe me. I was just tryin' to tell you that you're gonna be part of this year's photo too!"

There was a long confused pause before she answered, "Well...yeah, I-I knew that!"

Confused, Hop-Pop looked to the equally baffled kids. Polly and Sprig however couldn't do much else besides shrug and mouth a silent "sorry" each to him.

Meanwhile, now that she no longer needed privacy, Anne finally unlocked the cellar door and re-emerged out into the living room. The girl had undergone an astonishingly speedy transformation, having changed out her school uniform and into the Thai-style dress that they all recognized from Stumpy's grand re-opening.

"Whoa." Anne was startled to find all the Plantars waiting for her. She took one look at the worry still lingering on all of their faces and immediately her tear-stained cheeks turned bright scarlet. "Uh, s-sorry for just bolting off like that. I….I guess I got a liiiittle bit overexcited about g-getting dressed for the picture."

"Wait..." Hop-Pop was still trying to get a grasp on the situation. "So…you knew exactly where I was gettin' at back outside?"

"Uh-huh, course I-I did." She replied as she wiped her waterlogged eyes. "Because before that, y-you said you needed _all_ of us to get ready, n-not just Polly and Sprig."

"Huh….I did, didn't I? Well, I'm glad you managed to catch that." The old frog sighed with relief. "But if you knew you were bein' included, then why did you tear up and start crying' up such a storm just now?"

"Um….." Anne's face grew even redder. Lucky for her, she didn't need to openly say it. It only took a few moments for the frogs to figure out the obvious.

"Awwww." Polly couldn't help but coo.

"Oh, Anne!" Sprig clapped his cheeks. As he started getting misty-eyed he bounced over to give her a hug. And Hop-Pop chuckled as he gave her a gentle pat on the back before saying simply,

"We're pretty happy about it too, kiddo."

"Th-thanks." Anne grinned. "Sorry again if I worried you guys or anything. But I-I'm okay now."

But of course no sooner had she said this when she started getting choked up all over again. Her eyes began filling up fast despite her attempts to blink back the tides.

"Yup, I'm fine." She repeated most unconvincingly. "Toootally fine ….doin' just fine, I'm just….just….j-just happy about doing a photo with my fam. Definitely not gonna m-make another scene. Everything's okay, I'm totally….doing….fine, and I'm g-gonna….calm down...right….this...oh man, here it comes…."

She blew her nose and then burst out with a fresh wave of joyful sobs. While she wiped her face she blubbered in stubborn defiance, "I'm I-I am _not_ making t-too big of a deal out of this! I'm t-totally fine right now!"

By this point Sprig was completely overcome by the emotion of the moment. "I've gotcha Anne! It's okay, you honorary Plantar, you."

"Yeah, I-I know it's g-gonna be okay. Why would you even n-need to say that? It's a-all okay, I'm j-just….just excited for the group photo, that's all." Anne continued to weepily understate. "Anyways, I-I'm fine.….I-I've just...just got s-s-something in my eyes right now…."

She promptly burst out bawling even harder. "It's all of my tears!"

"And that's okay!" Two small rivers were now gushing down the sides of Sprig's face. "There's no shame in that, see? Family takes f-fancy photos together, a-a-and they cry together t-too!"

" I-I'm just excited for the picture. I'm fine, Sprig! I-I'm not going overboard here!" She sobbed, and then immediately conceded, "Okay, maybe j-just a little…"

"It's okay, Anne B-Boonchuy Plantar," He smiled through his gushing tears. "You're one of us."

"Alright, let's get in there." Hop-Pop nodded to Polly, and the two dutifully joined in for a full group hug. It took a couple of minutes, but Anne finally started to calm down a little.

"I think….I-I think we're gonna be a l-little late." She managed to joke.

"That's okay, Patty's Photographs don't close 'til five." Hop-Pop reassured. "The kids and I will get cleaned up, then we'll head out."

"Y-yeah!" Sprig wiped his dripping wet face and cheered excitedly. "And once we t-take the family photo, we can get a picture of just y-you."

"Aw. Honored, b-but I don't think that's necessary." Anne laughed. "Especially after all...well, all of this."

"Oh don't worry, 'Sides, we can't add you to the Plantar Family Shrub unless we have a…." Hop-Pop was very displeased with himself when he quickly realized something. "Aaaaand this is the very first time I'm tellin' you 'bout this other part of the plan, ain't it?"

"Yup." Her eyes immediately began to refill with a fresh surge of tears. The old frog face-palmed again.

"You, uh, still doing okay?" Sprig checked.

"Nope." She shook her head. They could even feel her tremble as she started to choke up all over again.

"Uh-oh." Polly immediately braced herself for the next flood.

"Yeah, sorry, th-this….this is gonna be a big one." Anne warned. However, she was able to hold back the fresh upswell of emotion just long enough to politely request, "C-can someone get me a drink of water? Please?"

"I'm on it!" Hop-Pop hurriedly hopped away to the kitchen. "Can't have you gettin' all dehydrated before we leave…."


End file.
